Sterilized medical instruments facilitate the successful performance of numerous medical procedures. However, after a sterilization procedure sterilizes the medical instruments, the sterilized medical instruments should be prevented from becoming contaminated and/or non-sterile until they are used in a medical procedure. One manner by which sterilized medical instruments may be maintained sterile until use is the placement of the sterilized medical instruments into a compact and transferable medical kit. The medical instruments may be manually delivered directly to an operating room for use via the medical kit. For instance, during an operating room (OR) procedure, a circulating or non-sterile nurse may deliver the medical kit to a sterile nurse.
Conventional medical kits may include two primary components: an inner tray acting as a sterilized interior medical instrument holder and a non-sterile outer tray, into which the inner tray may be placed. The inner tray may be configured to hold a number of medical instruments in place. After the medical instruments are placed within the inner tray, the inner tray may be positioned within the outer, larger tray. The inner tray, as well as the accompanying medical instruments, also may be sterilized via a sterilization process.
Additionally, conventional non-sterile outer and sterilized inner trays may each have an upper flange or rim. The outer tray is typically longer, wider, and deeper than the inner tray. However, with the conventional inner and outer trays, the upper rim of the inner tray may leave little or no clearance between the inner and outer trays. Hence, with typical medical kits, it may be difficult for a sterile nurse to remove the sterilized inner tray from the non-sterile outer tray without making contact with the non-sterile outer tray.